From Atlanta to Alameda County, the nation's poor are more likely to be found in suburbs than in cities or rural areas. And many cities and counties are figuring out new ways to help the suburban poor.
The New York Times reported that in California's Inland Empire ("the sprawling suburban area east of Los Angeles"), unemployment is around 10 percent "and nearly one-fifth of all residents live in poverty, the highest rate among the largest metropolitan areas in the country. By the official federal measure, nearly one-third of all children [there] are poor."
Not only does the area suffer from higher poverty rates, but a shortage of nonprofits per capita than the rest of the state according to a 2009 study by the James Irvine Foundation, Times reporter Jessica Medina wrote.
Atlanta, where city officials demolished approximately 14,000 public housing units in 2011, is home to MUST, a 43-year-old foundation that houses a food pantry, a free clinic, a thrift shop, and classrooms for employment and housing workshops, Politico's Rebecca Burns reported.
"People went to suburbia for the American dream, and it became a nightmare," Rev. Dwight "Ike" Reighard, MUST's president and CEO, told Burns in an interview. "People have such little margin in their lives, it's staggering."
Since the city's poor moved their way to the suburbs, MUST has ramped up its services. Last year the food pantry distributed $1.25 million in groceries, and in one summer delivered 247,087 lunches to kids who "usually rely on school to provide their one meal of the day" - more than double what MUST delivered in 2009, Politico reported.
Lane Anderson wrote last month that poverty can be easier to handle in a dense, urban setting than in a suburban one.
"A child in relatively dense Los Angeles, for example, has a 10 percent chance of moving from the bottom income bracket to the top, while a child in Atlanta - one of the most sprawling places in the country - has only a 4 percent chance," Anderson writes.
Explanations for the difference include that public transit is more available in urban centers, and lower-income people ususally have fewer transportation options. Another factor could be the integration of race in cities, which has been proven to be related to pvoerty. Plus, people in suburbia use cars more often, which don't help in preventing diseases like obesity, diabetes and cancer, Anderson writes.%3Cimg%20src%3D%22http%3A//beacon.deseretconnect.com/beacon.gif%3Fcid%3D172577%26pid%3D46%22%20/%3E